Optical fiber has become accepted as a viable alternative to traditional materials used for data signal communication. Optical fiber is now widely utilized in a variety of electronic devices to facilitate the high-speed communication of data signals at high bandwidths. However, in addition to increases in the speed and bandwidth of the electronic components in data communication devices, optical fiber users are attempting to place ever more optical fibers in ever-smaller spaces. However, packing fibers into tight spaces can cause undesirable attenuation.
Optical fiber ribbons provide one way to densely pack a plurality of optical fibers. Often, individual coated optical fibers are made, arranged in parallel to one another, and then coated with a collective coating layer and formed into a ribbon shape. However, such ribbon designs limit the density with which the optical fibers can be positioned in the ribbon. Also, such shape limits the bending capabilities of the ribbon. Furthermore, the cores of the individual optical fibers in the ribbon are often not aligned in a manner that allows for precise coupling to standard connectors or other fiber arrays.
The use of optical fiber waveguides with multiple cores sharing a single outer glass cladding has been proposed as a means of increasing the bandwidth density of communications systems. However, the difficulty of fabricating multicore waveguides places a practical constraint on the features of the individual cores. Furthermore, the inclusion of many cores can result in large diameter waveguide structures. To maintain a given level of reliability, larger diameter glass structures are limited to larger minimum bending radii, which can complicate the routing of fibers in many applications. In addition, multicore fibers (MCF) are sensitive to external perturbations such as bending and twisting and increased cross-talk, increased loss, and decreased transmission performance have been observed with increased bending diameter of MCF relative to single core fibers.